


Synonyms for Severe

by GordandV



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-05-31 13:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6472021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GordandV/pseuds/GordandV
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or in which a straightforward A-rank mission takes an unexpected twist, and Kakashi isn’t in danger from any other shinobi. Tenzou provides unhelpful commentary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Steer

**Author's Note:**

> V is seriously considering making a "Misadventures in ANBU" series which is great for her and her readers, but not so great for Kakashi and Tenzou. 
> 
> This fanfiction was originally was supposed to be crack, but then V gave herself emotional whiplash writing it. She started thinking about "what ifs" that could never apply to Naruto since, at the core, it is supposed to be a show geared toward kids. But that's what fanfiction is for, isn't it? Applying mature themes to show that never could? And on that note, V explores some rather dark things in this story. Please proceed with caution.
> 
> And V also purposefully labeled this story as General: while she may understand people viewing Kakashi and Tenzou as having a romantic relationship in this, she wrote it with the intention of it being platonic.
> 
> Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Steer

“Senpai, when is it my turn to steer?”

“Never.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m captain,” Kakashi replied. “I get to decide who steers.”

Tenzou’s grip around Kakashi’s waist tightened until it was uncomfortable. “But I haven’t gotten a turn yet!”

“Too bad.”

“But I _want_ a turn!”

“No.”

Tenzou frowned frown behind his ANBU-issued cat mask and then dug his thumbs in Kakashi’s sides. “If I don’t get a turn, I’ll tell Lord Third that you were abusing your authority as captain.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I want a turn. The mission’s almost over and I haven’t gotten to steer once.”

Kakashi exhaled loudly. “Fine. But only for half an hour. No more.”

Tenzou squeezed excitedly and then let go of Kakashi. Kakashi kicked his feet free of the stirrups while Tenzou swung his leg over the horse’s back so he could sit sideways. It was rather ungraceful having Tenzou all but climb over Kakashi’s side and sit in his lap so they could switch positions, but Kakashi couldn’t have cared less because the rest of the escort watched with fear in their eyes and quickly averted their gaze when Kakashi turned his head: at least ANBU’s reputation was good for something.

Tenzou settled into the warm leather saddle and eagerly picked up the reins Kakashi had left draped over the horse’s neck while Kakashi shifted back onto the horse’s bare hindquarters and eased one arm around Tenzou’s waist to keep himself in place. Kakashi snorted when Tenzou began to fidget and then leaned over slightly to stare at the stirrups that were just out of reach: their height difference wasn’t all that much, but it was enough.

“Senpai-”

“You wanted to steer,” Kakashi interrupted. “Deal with it.”

Kakashi didn’t add that the only reason he hadn’t let Tenzou ride in the front was because Kakashi was a selfish bastard and he wanted the saddle and the stirrups that came with it to try and lessen the inevitable saddle soreness he was bound to feel whenever they stopped. At least Kakashi could stand up every once in a while and stretch a bit while Tenzou was stuck straddling an entire horse between his legs. That, and Kakashi didn’t like riding sidesaddle because someone was bound to make some sexist comment about only girls riding like that. Tenzou had no such qualms: he alternated riding astride and sidesaddle and kept both arms locked firmly about his captain without so much as glancing around to see who was watching.

For such an expensive mission, Kakashi would have thought their employer would have outfitted each guard with a horse rather than having some of them ride tandem, but he supposed that if the lord had enough money to burn on hiring two of Konoha’s ANBU, he probably wanted to power play them as much as possible. After all, what was better that casually mentioning to other nobles that he had forced two elite shinobi to share a horse because he had said so? Kakashi rolled his eye: he knew that Tenzou was downright enjoying himself between the novelty of riding a horse and being forced to ride tandem with Kakashi. The only reason this was an A-rank mission was because of the pay.

Tenzou patted the horse’s neck and then sat back up and at attention while he held onto the reins with vigor in his black gloved hands that were now littered with white hair. Kakashi didn’t have the heart to tell him that he hadn’t been steering Giri: Giri just followed the other horses that flanked the carriage and all Kakashi had done was enjoy the ride. He could have probably dropped the reins and died in the saddle and the white and black horse would have probably continued on without notice.

Tenzou gently pulled on the reins and let Giri drop back from the rest of the group.

“Is this really an A-rank?” Tenzou whispered. “We escorted him all the way to where he wanted to go and now we’re on the way back. Nothing’s happened.”

Kakashi and Tenzou would break off from the group early so that they could return to Konoha. Once the lord passed a checkpoint, whatever happened to him was out of ANBU’s hands. The mission would be complete.

“Are you really complaining about the pay?” Kakashi asked while Giri suddenly sidestepped a fallen branch: Kakashi’s stomach rocked at the sudden motion.

“Of course not!” Tenzou replied. “It’s just that it’s unusual to have a mission this… cushy.”

Kakashi couldn’t agree more: the palace their employer had stopped at for a week had been unusual in the sense that he didn’t want Kakashi and Tenzou shadowing him. He had all but ordered the two of them to stay out of his way while he conducted “business” which meant that the pair had spent a week lounging in comfort. Why hire two shinobi if they weren’t going to be used for A) actual protection or B) to show them off as hired hands? It didn’t make any sense.

“All missions don’t have to go badly,” Kakashi said. “It was nice having a vacation.”

Tenzou agreed. He clucked his tongue and tugged on the reins when Giri suddenly detoured for a wayward bush.

“Come on,” Tenzou encouraged. “We have to catch back up. Come on, Giri.”

Giri swung his back end around and Kakashi tightened his one-armed hold on Tenzou. His stomach rolled again and he hurriedly raised his mask, leaned over, and then threw up over the side of the horse.

“Are you alright, senpai?” Tenzou asked with concern while Kakashi wiped his mouth.

“Fine. I probably are something bad yesterday,” Kakashi replied before reaching for one of his canteens to rinse his mouth out with.

Tenzou nodded in sympathy. “Food poisoning,” he said. “I thought that one fish dish with the blue garnish looked off.”

“That was fish?” Kakashi asked.

“What did you think it was?” Tenzou asked before nudging Giri who broke into a smooth canter.

Kakashi shrugged. “Not fish?”

“You tried it without knowing what it was?” Tenzou questioned with a quiet laugh.

“Variety is the spice of life.”

“And so is food poisoning, apparently. Thank you for not puking on me, senpai.”

“I do try my best as captain not to puke on my kohai.”


	2. Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Tea

Tenzou walked away from the escort with his rations (which weren’t even rations, they were technically leftovers from the palace and better than any rations Tenzou had ever had) to a fallen tree hidden in the shadow of another standing one where Kakashi was seated. Tenzou winced when Kakashi, with his hound mask already pushed up on his head, turned around to vomit into a bush. Well, not even vomit, really, dry heave: Kakashi had refused food and had been substituting with soldier pills and water. Still, it wasn’t pleasant watching his captain heave up bile.

Funnily enough, given all the vomiting Kakashi had done, Tenzou had yet to see Kakashi’s face. Huh.

“I take it you don’t want any?” Tenzou asked as he offered his food.

Kakashi shook his head and waved off Tenzou. “No. But thanks.”

Tenzou sat down on the log beside Kakashi and looked him over, or at least the parts of him that were visible: when had Kakashi broken out their white cloaks?

“Senpai, are you cold?” Tenzou asked before putting his meal aside.

“A little,” Kakashi admitted.

Tenzou pulled his grey bracer and then glove off. “It’s spring, senpai. It’s been beautiful weather ever since this mission started.”

“So?” Kakashi’s one eye went cross-eyed when Tenzou pressed his palm against his forehead. “Um, Tenzou…”

“You feel a little warm.”

Kakashi hurriedly pulled back and put some space between himself and Tenzou. “I have food poisoning, Tenzou, and have done nothing but puke. I’m bound to be a little feverish.”

Tenzou didn’t seem convinced. Kakashi hugged the cloak closer to himself.

“Would you at least like some tea?” Tenzou asked. “I thought I heard someone saying they were making some.”

“Well… alright.”

It couldn’t hurt. It might even help Kakashi’s sore abdominal muscles. Tenzou seemed pleased at the response and hurriedly set his food aside.

“Let me go check.”

“You don’t’ have to check now!” Kakashi told Tenzou’s retreating back.

“That didn’t last long,” Tenzou lamented when the escort and carriage headed back onto the road after lunch: he and Kakashi and Giri lingered by a tree while Kakashi threw up the tea Tenzou had brought him.

“Tenzou?”

“Yes, senpai?”

“Shut. Up.”

Tenzou winced and stroked Giri’s neck. Giri exhaled loudly when Kakashi mounted back up and all but collapsed into the saddle. Tenzou waited for Kakashi to offer him a hand up but none came. Tenzou huffed and then pressed his hands together.

“Don’t let anyone see you doing that,” Kakashi warned as Tenzou carefully slid onto Giri’s hindquarters from the wooden block that had suddenly grown beneath his feet.

“If you’d help me up, I wouldn’t have to,” Tenzou reminded gently.

Kakashi swatted at Tenzou’s hands when he attempted to get a hold around Kakashi’s waist.

“Don’t,” he snapped.

“Where am I supposed to hold onto then?” Tenzou demanded while Giri headed off after the escort, because while shinobi had superior balance, there was nothing easy about staying on a moving object that had a mind all its own.

“I don’t know.” Kakashi sounded irritated.

Tenzou quickly shifted so that he could ride astride and then grabbed onto a decorative flap on either side of the saddle. “Senpai, did I do something wrong?”

“Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

“It’s just…” Tenzou hesitated. “You were alright with me touching you before. Did I do something wrong?”

Tenzou could hear Kakashi sigh quietly before replying.

“No. My stomach is just sore. It’ll hurt if you try and hold me.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s alright, senpai.”

Tenzou sat up straighter and blinked in surprise when one of Kakashi’s hands suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“You can hold here,” Kakashi all but muttered.

Tenzou made sure to keep his grip loose on his captain’s hips and flash a handful of shuriken at any of the guards who stared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed, leave V a comment or kudo to let her know.
> 
> Chapter 3 to follow in a few days.


	3. Anatomy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V had no intention of writing crack, but it happened. She had entirely too much fun.

Chapter 3: Anatomy

Kakashi woke up late and resisted the urge to curl back up inside his nest of cloaks and borrowed blankets. He felt even worse than the day before and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. He almost did, but the sudden need to throw up ruined any thought of going back to bed for a few more minutes. He leaned over the side of the wooden shell he was currently resting in (and where the _hell_ had that come from? Tenzou. Of course. That little bastard had insulated him.) and then slumped over the edge once he was done vomiting.

“What?” he barked at Tenzou who seemed to have been up for some time already and was staring at him.

“Senpai, are you pregnant?”

“What? No!”

Tenzou raised his mask and then eyed Kakashi suspiciously. “Did you get someone pregnant?”

Kakashi was flabbergasted. “Tenzou, that’s not how that works!”

Tenzou rolled his eyes. “I meant sympathetic pains.”

Kakashi blinked. “No!” It didn’t help that his stomach decided to turn itself inside out again.

“It’s alright, senpai,” Tenzou soothed while he perched on the ledge of the wooden shell and rubbed Kakashi’s back. “I’ll help you take care of the baby.”

“I’m not pregnant!”

“I won’t let you raise it alone.”

“I’m. Not. Pregnant.” Kakashi ground out between clenched teeth. “I don’t have the right anatomy!”

Tenzou shrugged. “I didn’t have Wood Style when I was born.”

Kakashi blinked hard because that was true and he couldn’t argue that point. “That doesn’t mean I’m pregnant. It’s food poisoning.”

“I don’t know, senpai, I’ve seen some strange jutsus,” Tenzou continued. “And some strange experiments. Myself not included.”

Kakashi growled. “Tenzou, for the last time, I am not p-”

And wasn’t that the perfect moment for Kakashi’s side to sudden burst into pain. Both hands flew to his side and Tenzou’s fingers stilled on his captain’s back.

“Did it kick?”

“Tenzou!”

And for a split second Kakashi debated the chances of himself having been the unwilling victim of some type of jutsu or Orochimaru-esque experiment and actually being pregnant.

“Tenzou, if you say I’m pregnant one more time, I’ll shove Chidori so far up your ass-”

Tenzou clucked his tongue sadly and interrupted. “That’s probably not good for the baby, senpai.”

Kakashi slowly fell over onto what was currently his good side with a gasp. Tenzou hopped down into the nest and stood over him with worry.

“Senpai?”

Kakashi dug his fingers into his side and then fixed Tenzou with a look. “You do not mention this until we get home.”

“But, senpai-“

“And that’s an order, Tenzou. Do you understand me?”

“But-”

“Not until we’re home. Clear?”

Tenzou looked upset but he nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” Kakashi forced himself to sit up and release his death grip.

“Senpai-“

“What did I just say?”

Tenzou hung his head.

“I’m not pregnant, Tenzou. Calm down. It’s bad food poisoning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter today, but V hopes you still enjoyed. The emotional whiplash comes next update, and the giggles you had this chapter will be gone.


	4. Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V gave herself emotional whiplash writing this chapter. It was supposed to be just as funny as the previous one, but then V began pondering "what if." Nothing graphic, but there are some touchy topics ahead.

Chapter 4: Talk

And despite Kakashi’s constant reassurances, Kakashi still caught Tenzou glancing at him (and more specifically at his midsection). And being especially gentle when they rode tandem because Tenzou now avoided touching Kakashi period, and Kakashi had to manhandle Tenzou into grabbing around his waist to stay on Giri despite the ever-growing pain in his side.

“I still think you’re pregnant,” Tenzou admitted while he and Kakashi bedded down for the night: apparently despite being shinobi, their employer didn’t see the use of having either of them keep watch, not that Tenzou would have let Kakashi given the shape he was in.

Now nauseous, feverish, and battling a case of the chills, Kakashi wouldn’t have let himself keep watch even if the Hokage had ordered him to. He was beyond exhausted and was looking forward to passing out for a few hours to escape the pain creeping down his side.

“I asked the medic on duty, hypothetically, what all your symptoms could be,” Tenzou continued while he made a series of seals and then touched the bundle of roots he and Kakashi planned on sleeping on (the wood immediately melted together and formed a smooth bowl-shape). “And she said they weren’t really specific enough to diagnose anything, but you could definitely be pregnant.”

Tenzou waited for Kakashi to say something, anything, snap some comment about disobedience, but none came. Kakashi merely rolled up as best he could inside his and Tenzou’s cloaks and laid down despite the warm breeze.

“Senpai, why don’t you just let her look at you?” Tenzou asked quietly. “I bed she could tell us right away.”

“It’s food poisoning,” Kakashi said, and he closed his eye because the sharp pain was ebbing away to something much gentler. “She can’t help with that, I know: there’s too many variables.”

Tenzou reluctantly laid down beside Kakashi.

“We’ll be back in Konoha sometime tomorrow,” Kakashi pointed out. “If I’m not better by then, I’ll get checked out.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Even if you’re pregnant?”

Kakashi couldn’t help but smile. “Especially if I am. Which I’m not.”

Kakashi rolled onto his good side. Tenzou rolled onto the opposite side until he was back-to-back with Kakashi.

“Senpai?”

“Mhm?”

“If it’s alright, could I be its uncle?”

“Whatever you’d like, Tenzou. But you’ll have to fight Guy for the honor of being its godfather.”

“Really?”

“Mhm-hm. Why the sudden interest in being an uncle?”

Kakashi could feel Tenzou tense up behind him.

“I just… It’s nothing.”

“Tenzou, if you seriously think I’m pregnant, then you have to tell me why you’re so keen on helping me raise it since it’s not yours or your responsibility.”

“I’m a good friend?” Tenzou replied a bit unsurely.

“Tenzou,” Kakashi deadpanned.

Kakashi could feel Tenzou making hand seals to keep himself occupied.

“It’s just… It’s silly, senpai.”

“Can’t be sillier than you thinking I’m pregnant when I just have a bad case of food poisoning.”

Tenzou continued making signs. “Swear you won’t laugh?”

“I swear.”

Tenzou inhaled deeply and then exhaled. “I just don’t know if I can have kids. Not that I want any now right now!”

And thank the powers that be because Kakashi would have _killed_ Tenzou if he had thought about starting a family at his age. Not that it was any of Kakashi’s business who Tenzou slept with, (if he ever did), but the two of them were all but family and Kakashi could definitely throw a fit about babies if he wanted to.

“No one knows the full extent of what Orochimaru did to me,” Tenzou continued quietly. “And Danzo. Sure, I have Wood Style now, but no one knows what else they did to me to get the results. I could be infertile.”

And Kakashi could feel Tenzou’s blush.

“And I don’t want children now, and maybe I’ll never want them, but what if I do?” Now there was worry creeping into Tenzou’s voice. “What I have to, I don’t know, reproduce asexually, or pollinate, or-”

“Tenzou, you have Wood Style,” Kakashi interrupted. “You’re not actually a plant. I don’t think being able to combine earth and water necessarily means you have to reproduce like a one.”

“You don’t know that!” Tenzou said far louder than Kakashi knew he intended to. “Sorry, senpai.”

Kakashi bit his lip and then rolled over. “It’s fine, Tenzou.”

He untangled himself from his cloaks and then draped one arm over Tenzou’s side. Tenzou raised a hand to hug Kakashi’s limb closer to his body.

“Have you thought about this before?” Kakashi dared to ask because coming back to this conversation unless either of them were drunk (or Kakashi was “pregnant” again) was slim to none. And Tenzou didn’t even drink. Yet. “I mean before this mission?”

Tenzou shrugged. “I don’t know… a little bit I guess. I think I remember someone saying something about trying to see if Hashirama’s cells could be passed down from me to any offspring I had, but I guess forcing a child to have kids is beyond what some villains are capable of even if experimentation on them is alright. But I don’t know if that was real or I dreamed it.”

Kakashi simply nodded and was quiet for a few seconds.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore, senpai. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Tenzou.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sad enough for you?
> 
> Next chapter should be up around Monday.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now to see what's really wrong with Kakashi.

Chapter 5: Pain

Despite the comforting arm on his waist and body behind him, Tenzou was in no mood to face Kakashi before he could gather his emotions and put them aside. Not forever, just until the mission was over and Tenzou had the chance to think things over some more. Alone.

So with stealth born of desperation and shinobi skills, Tenzou slipped out from under Kakashi’s arm, carefully rearranged the cloaks he had disturbed, and then scaled the nearest tree where he had a good vantage point of both his teammate and the escort party and carriage and sat against the trunk to think until the sun rose.

“Senpai,” Tenzou called gently once the escort had begun to wake up. “It’s time to get up. Senpai?”

Kakashi was curled up in the wooden shell with his hound mask in place. Tenzou frowned because he thought he heard sniffling and he quickened his pace.

“Senpai, what’s wrong? Are you… crying?”

Tenzou ever so carefully removed the mask and stared dumbly for a few moments because Kakashi was downright sobbing.

“What’s wrong?” was all Tenzou could ask.

“I-it hurts.”

And wasn’t that the most alarming thing Kakashi could have said. Tenzou had seen Kakashi get stabbed at not even flinch.

“What does, senpai? What hurts?”

Tenzou inwardly flinched when Kakashi moved his hands across his stomach because his immediate reaction was a miscarriage, but Kakashi’s fingers stopped over his side.

“Hurts.”

“How bad is the pain?” Tenzou needed a proper gauge.

“Severe.”

“I’ll get the medic.”

Tenzou all but barreled into camp and hauled the medic, who was still half-asleep, back over to Kakashi.

“I’m not a shinobi,” the woman said while she piled her graying hair on top of her head before leaning over the wooden edge to get a better look at Kakashi.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tenzou said. “Please, can you help him?”

“I’ll do my best. Tell me exactly what happened.”

Kakashi didn’t seem capable of speech. Tenzou quickly relayed everything he had previously told the woman was hypothetical but with more detail. The woman listened attentively and then tried to move Kakashi’s hands aside: she flinched when blue sparks jumped from them and Tenzou quickly intervened because Kakashi must have been feeling especially badly if he was trying to Chidori the poor woman trying to help.

“Don’t Chidori people who are trying to help you!” Tenzou admonished. “Let her look.”

Kakashi shook his head.

“How bad is the pain now?” the woman asked as if she just hadn’t nearly been electrocuted.

“Terrible,” Kakashi offered before he continued grinding his teeth together.

“I’ll try to be gentle,” the medic said gently. “Just let me feel your side. And this time don’t spark me. It’s rude.”

Kakashi kept suggesting that whatever he was feeling was awful, devastating, critical… the list went on.

“Well, you do seem to know a bunch of synonyms for severe,” the woman said after a few minutes. “And given my diagnosis, I think I’d agree.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Tenzou asked.

Poison. Wound. Miscarriage.

“Well, he’s certainly not pregnant,” the medic said with a slight snort. “I have no idea where either of you got that lunatic idea.”

“Poison?” Tenzou said.

“What? No.” The medic patted her own side. “Appendicitis.”

“What?” Kakashi groaned.

“You’re lucky we’re so close to Konoha,” the woman continued. “You’re going to have to have it taken out before it ruptures.”

“You mean it hasn’t?” Tenzou asked just as Kakashi demanded to know what exactly an appendix was.

“No, not yet. And no one’s quite sure what it does for,” the medic answered. “But everyone has one.”

“I don’t,” Tenzou offered and then shrugged in Kakashi’s direction when he stopped sniffling for a few moments. “Everyone has theirs taken out so something like this doesn’t happen on missions. You don’t need it to live.”

Everyone meaning ROOT agents.

“I’m not sure I agree with having healthy appendixes taken out,” the medic began, “But I’m not doing a field appendectomy. Not with Konoha so close.”

“Will he be alright?” Tenzou asked while Kakashi buried his face into one of his cloaks.

“If his appendix gets taken out before it ruptures, you’ll never even know he ever had a problem with it,” the medic said with a small wink. “I can tell he’s a fighter, so just get back to Konoha as fast as you can.”

“Do you have anything to give him for the pain?” Tenzou asked. “He’s in agony.”

“Don’t give him anything!”

Tenzou flinched at the shout.

“Sorry.” And the older woman did seem genuinely apologetic. “But it’s better if there’s nothing in his system before surgery. It’ll be a rough trip back, but he’s lasted this long without complaining.”

Tenzou didn’t want to mention to the medic that he could literally count the number of times he had seen Kakashi cry because of pain. It didn’t go past one hand.

“I’ll go get Giri,” Tenzou said instead. “It’ll be easier getting back if I don’t have to carry him.”

“Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 should be posted around Thursday.


	6. Flexing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Following the same arc of as my other story "Chidori is Not an Approved Jutsu for Water Landings (And Wood Style Probably Isn’t Either)", things have to get worse before they get better.

Chapter 6: Flexing

Tenzou quickly returned to the main escort, negotiated a slightly lower mission rate with the employer due to his and Kakashi’s early departure, and then attempted to make his way over to Giri who stood alongside the other horses, tethered to a fallen log.

“You can’t take the horse,” one guard said.

Tenzou frowned behind his mask. “I’m not taking him, I’m borrowing him. He’ll be sent back once I’m done with him. You have my word.”

“If you’re abandoning your mission, then you don’t need the horse.”

Tenzou ignored the jibe: he and Kakashi were, at most, five or so hours from the prearranged checkpoint. “My companion’s sick, he needs medical attention.”

“We have a medic,” another escort pointed out.

Tenzou shook his head. “She can’t help. I have to take him to Konoha and it’s faster on horseback.”

“No.”

And now the other guards were slowly lining up in front the horses, and Tenzou sighed because were they really going to fight him over a horse he promised to return?

“I already talked with my employer,” Tenzou explained. “I have permission to borrow Giri.”

“I’m not going to ride double any longer if I don’t have to. Just carry your companion home.”

Tenzou turned his head and found the medic hurrying over to him.

“He’s getting worse,” she whispered. “You’d better hurry up.”

Tenzou nodded, thanked her, and then motioned for her to back up a bit. She did.

“I’m going to ask nicely just once: please let me have Giri. I have to take my teammate to Konoha. He’s ill.”

“No.”                                                                

Tenzou shrugged. “Fine. But I did warn you.”

The guards tensed and Tenzou wondered if the lord, currently oblivious to his escort’s actions, would be upset at how his money was being spent. It didn’t matter. Some people only gave up when they knew they were outmatched or overpowered. Tenzou had seen it before.

There was still distance between Tenzou and escort. He began to stride forward, flashing hand seals, and then paused and crouched down. He slammed both hands to the ground and the earth began to tremble and crack. While Tenzou hadn’t really preformed a specific jutsu, he was just doing the shinobi equivalent of flexing. And unless someone else in the escort had chakra and knew how to use it, Tenzou knew his display would be more than intimidating. His cat mask and long hair made him rather unassuming, but this should have been enough to solidify himself in the “do not piss off” category.

“Take him! Just take him!”

Tenzou untied Giri’s reins and led him away. It took an enormous amount of coaxing and some physical encouragement to get Kakashi on the black and white horse. Tenzou mounted behind him and the medic helped adjust Giri’s reins so that Tenzou could hold them in one hand while the other held onto Kakashi to make sure he remained in the saddle and mostly upright.

“Good luck,” the woman said as she stepped back from Giri. “He’ll be fine.”

Tenzou tapped Giri’s sides and the horse plodded off to the road. Tenzou offered a nod at the stunned escort before the horse took off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter to be posted.


	7. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter!

 

Chapter 7: Recovery

Kakashi sighed. “If you’re going to come in, come in. Don’t perch on my windowsill: it makes passersby nervous.”

Tenzou slipped in, in full ANBU attire, and then stopped a foot away from the bed.

“You’re not going to break me, Tenzou.”

Tenzou set his mask aside and stepped closer. “I’m sorry I didn’t visit you earlier, senpai.”

“It’s fine.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better.”

“You’re not in any pain, are you?” Tenzou sounded extremely concerned.

“Minimal, very minimal.” Kakashi shifted over and then gave a pointed look at his bed.

Tenzou, mindful of tubes, quickly filled the empty spot. He leaned up against Kakashi, careful of his friend’s surely tender side, and settled his chin on Kakashi’s shoulder. Kakashi tilted his head.

“I’m glad you’re alright, senpai,” Tenzou said. “I was very worried.”

Kakashi hummed in response: he had been worried for a moment, too.

“Do you know when you’re being discharged?”

“Not yet, but most likely in a few days.”

“I see.”

The two were silent for a few minutes. Tenzou twined his fingers with Kakashi’s. Kakashi cleared his throat and hesitated for a moment.

“Tenzou, I hope you already know, but if you ever want to talk…”

“I know, senpai. You’re here for me.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V didn't exactly know how to end this fic, so she kept it short, sweet, and to the point.
> 
> Thank you everyone for the comments and kudos!

**Author's Note:**

> Giri is short for Onigiri since Naruto has so many fun food names.
> 
> If you enjoyed, leave V a kudo or comment to let her know!


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